IT & CS: dead-end careers

"Many programmers find that their employability starts to decline at about age 35. Employers dismiss them as either lacking in up-to-date technical skills — such as the latest programming-language fad — or 'not suitable for entry level.' In other words, either underqualified or overqualified. That doesn’t leave much, does it? Statistics show that most software developers are out of the field by age 40. Employers have admitted this in unguarded moments. Craig Barrett, a former chief executive officer of Intel Corp., famously remarked that 'the half-life of an engineer, software or hardware, is only a few years,' while Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has blurted out that young programmers are superior."

Just like college has been devalued, there are now infinite code monkeys. Since the coding itself has been so radically standardized, thanks mostly to platform standardization, it's no longer a space for genius. In fact, it's where the blockhead clerks of yesterday have gone to practice.

This is why every IT person is scrambling for the exit to management...

Comp-Sci only fails in this way because the ends have changed. No longer is the human-made computer the object to be improved; now, computers are being used to churning out identical(ly useless) programmes. The geniuses all move into theoretical computing (or AI or something similar), not your basic IT/programming jobs.

True genius might yet find a way to make some actual use of level 2000 WoW characters. A video game that trained its players to be real people, equipped to deal in the real world, perhaps? With ethics and shit

Hah! Welding! I once began an apprenticeship in welding, when North Sea Gas was happening. I was praised for my beautifully symmetrical welds. But I figured that there were better ways of living than being burned, torn, grazed, sprained and gassed, while wearing lenses so dark I was living in a burrow. All while being paid so little that I starved. So I starved, instead, without all the negatives. Do I know what's what, or what?

This is why every IT person is scrambling for the exit to management...

Maybe another dead end, if you consider how insipid corporate life is in general, independently of being in the IT world or not. Even if you are in a management position, dealing with mediocrity, above and bellow yourself, will be an everyday duty.